S14.E00 Christmas Special 2024

[Rapunzel]

12 hours ago, Notabug said:

The actress herself has moved on to other projects and TPTB say she has left the show.

Thanks for passing that along!

It just seems so silly looking back now at the long courtship, the wedding, her career in Poplar that she loved and could earn more in England which is why she left Jamaica to begin with, etc. Now she’s come full circle and is right back where she started - except now she has an estranged husband. 

I wonder if they will write Cyril out and have him go live in Jamaica and reunite with Lucile even though that isn’t his home and he’s made a pretty good life for him in Poplar. They could keep him on if he divorces Lucile. His role isn’t huge within the show, but he brings a bit of a different perspective to certain topics. 

It’s also interesting how one of the new nurses seems to be so much like Lucile in her mannerisms, and in how she deals with patients and fits in with the rest of the Nonnatus House. 

Edited January 9 by Rapunzel

[caitmcg]

8 hours ago, Rapunzel said:

Does anyone know if the actress is definitely leaving the show?

They wrote her off because she declined to return after Season 12. They did it somewhat poorly in terms of the character and accommodating Cyril's ongoing role, but at least it wasn't as abrupt as Valerie's exit.

[MMEButterfly]

On 1/7/2025 at 7:15 PM, kaygeeret said:

I truly didn't understand Reggie's descent into being unable to get himself out of trouble.

In past episodes he has seemed quite competent and able to function at a fairly high level.

I was shocked to hear that he needed help with a telephone in this episode.

I just realized I was teaching students with Downs at the time of this show--my first year of many. Yes, a young man as high functioning as Reggie, with speech as articulate as his, would have probably carried a card with his info. Could have probably written his address and phone number and almost certainly have them memorized. In the education of persons with Downs, England was as progressive or more than the U.S. We were pushing institutionalization longer than Western Europe generally. By 1964 I was teaching methods at a university, and we were getting ideas from Western Europe. 

[satrunrose]

On 1/3/2025 at 1:05 PM, Sarah 103 said:

The series has been renewed for another year, so we will get at least 15 series/seasons. Putting the idea of Angela and May becoming midwives (or doctors if the timing works) out there in the universe seems like tempting fate to create a sequel series focusing on the next generation.

To be honest, I've been thinking for years that I want to see a prequel of Nonnatus and our original crew of nuns (Sister Julienne, Monica Joan and Evangelina) during the blitz and maybe the 30s (also not a great time for women and low-income places). In the early seasons, Sisters E and MJ made some pretty harrowing references to delivering babies in bomb shelters that I think would be cool to see on screen. Heck, I would like to see Sr MJ before her "we wrote ourselves into a corner with a 15 season show and a character with a degenerative neurological disease" era. I sometimes get the feeling that she was a bit eccentric, or at least wildly pretentious, before she ended up with plot-convenient dementia. Actually, a story-line about her early decline would be some really interesting tv, especially since it sounds like she was a really good midwife at that point.

[jschoolgirl]

This was a bit tedious. The anvil slammed hard for Cyril and Rosalind. But one slammed last year for Cyril and Joyce.

I hate to say it, but I think the show should wrap.

I agree Sheilagh is a sadly diminished character. Patrick indeed is looking older. He’s a good bit older than she is. The character Avril mentioned it disparagingly in an earlier season episode featuring the unwed mother’s home. Something said in the earlier seasons indicated Patrick would have been born during or before World War I. Sheilagh entered the order during the second war, per Sister Evangelina’s mention of the utility shoes she and Sister Julienne saw in Sister Bernadette’s suitcase as they were going through the property to be returned upon leaving the order. She was probably in her early 20s if not younger when she entered.

[Sarah 103]

On 1/11/2025 at 10:54 PM, satrunrose said:

To be honest, I've been thinking for years that I want to see a prequel of Nonnatus and our original crew of nuns (Sister Julienne, Monica Joan and Evangelina) during the blitz and maybe the 30s (also not a great time for women and low-income places). 

I would be totally completely 100% on board with this prequel series. I am pretty sure other people have suggested it or something similar and I still think it's a fantastic idea each time.

Can anyone (especially superfans) do the math and figure out when Patrick Turner enters the picture/neighborhood as a doctor? Would it be possible to have a young(er) Patrick Turner as part of this prequel series in some capacity?  

[jschoolgirl]

28 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

Can anyone (especially superfans) do the math and figure out when Patrick Turner enters the picture/neighborhood as a doctor? Would it be possible to have a young(er) Patrick Turner as part of this prequel series in some capacity?

I imagine it was after his war recuperation. 

[Sarah 103]

3 minutes ago, jschoolgirl said:

I imagine it was after his war recuperation. 

Works for me. In this hypothetical prequel series, I want to see Dr. Turner as a newcomer to the neighborhood and a youngish doctor. Start the series sometime in the late 1930s before the start of WWII. I'm okay with time jumps between seasons to allow us to see Dr. Turner's first days and years in Poplar. 

[jschoolgirl]

We might see Granny Parker (or is it Carter?) and Tim’s mother. Tim was born in 1949 or so.

[jschoolgirl]

Patrick was born in 1909 and Sheilagh in 1926.

[Sarah 103]

6 minutes ago, jschoolgirl said:

Patrick was born in 1909 and Sheilagh in 1926.

So taking into account his military service during WWII and his recovery, he wouldn't be that young when he started his medical practice in Poplar. He wouldn't be the young inexperienced doctor right out of school, but he still would be new to the neighborhood and an outsider that would have to earn people's trust. Yeah, this prequel series totally needs to happen. 

[jschoolgirl]

9 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

So taking into account his military service during WWII and his recovery, he wouldn't be that young when he started his medical practice in Poplar. He wouldn't be the young inexperienced doctor right out of school, but he still would be new to the neighborhood and an outsider that would have to earn people's trust. Yeah, this prequel series totally needs to happen. 

He might have been there as part of his training or before his deployment to the Continent.

[caitmcg]

14 hours ago, jschoolgirl said:

Patrick was born in 1909 and Sheilagh in 1926.

That more or less tracks with the actors' actual ages; according to IMDB, Stephen McGann was born in 1963 and Laura Main was born in 1981.